i8S6 IN AROLLA 147 



4 MARLBOROUGH PLACE, Sept. 10, 1886. 



MY DEAR FOSTER We got back last evening after a very 

 successful trip. Arolla suited us all to a T, and we are all in 

 great force. As for me, I have not known of the existence of 

 my liver, and except for the fact that I found fifteen or sixteen 

 miles with a couple of thousand feet up and down quite enough, 

 I could have deluded myself into the fond imagination that I 

 was twenty years younger. 



By way of amusement I bought a Swiss Flora in Lausanne 

 and took to botanising and my devotion to the gentians led the 

 Bishop of Chichester a dear old man, who paid us (that is the 

 hotel) a visit to declare that I sought the " Ur-gentian " as a 

 kind of Holy Grail. The only interruption to our felicity was 

 the death of a poor fellow, who was brought down on a guide's 

 back from an expedition he ought not to have undertaken, and 

 whom I did my best to keep alive one night. But rapid pleuritic 

 effusion finished him the next morning, in spite of (I hope 

 not in consequence of) such medical treatment as I could 

 give him. 



I see you had a great meeting at Birmingham, but I know 

 not details. The delegation to Sydney is not a bad idea, but 

 why on earth have they arranged that it shall arrive in the 

 middle of the hot weather? Speechifying with the thermometer 

 at 90 in the shade will try the nerves of the delegates, I can 

 tell them. 



I shall remain quietly here and see whether I can stand 

 London. I hope I may, for the oestrus of work is upon me for 

 the first time this couple of years. Let me have some news of 

 you. With our love to your wife and you Ever yours, 



T. H. HUXLEY. 



4 MARLBOROUGH PLACE, N.W., Sept. 14, 1886. 



MY DEAR DONNELLY I hear that some of your alguazils 

 were looking after me yesterday, so I had better give myself up 

 at once hoping it will be considered in the sentence. 



The fact is I have been going to write to you ever since we 

 came back last Thursday evening, but I had about fifty other 

 letters to write and got sick of the operation. 



We are all in great force, and as for me, I never expected a 

 year ago to be as well as I am. I require to look in the glass 

 and study the crows' feet and the increasing snow cap on the 

 summit of my Tete noire (as it once was), to convince myself 

 I am not twenty years younger. 



